Airbus completed delivery of 153 aircraft to China via Toulouse France and Hamburg Germany to Tianjin China last year. It accounted for 24% of Airbus’s global annual deliveries, and this is the fifth year that Airbus has been delivering more than 100 planes to China in a year.
Of the 153 aircraft that Airbus delivered to China last year, 128 were of the single-aisle A320 series and 25 were the A330 series.
Airbus said it will again deliver more than 100 aircraft to China this year, and estimates more than 5,300 aircraft will be required by China in the next 20 years.
Currently, almost 1,140 Airbus planes are in operation in China, roughly half of all the fleets in China’s 100 top airports. The majority of the aircraft are of the A320 and the A330 series, as well as some A2340 and A380 types.
Airbus estimates China’s demand for passenger and cargo aircraft will constitute 17% of the 31,000 total global demand in the next 20 years. Of the 5,363 aircraft Airbus will manufacture for the Chinese market, 3,567 will be single-aisle aircraft, 1,477 will be double-aisle aircraft and 319 will be super jumbo aircraft.
Airbus Corporate Jets marketing director David Velupillai anticipates strong growth for corporate jets in China, and that China will catch up with the USA to become Airbus’s most important corporate jet market as the number of billionaires in China may reach 1,040 by 2017.
Mr. Velupillai said Airbus received 20 corporate jet orders from Chinese clients since 2007 and expects more in the future.
Airbus announced it will launch a wide-bodied corporate jet design in order to meet Chinese clients’ preference for spacious interiors in corporate jets. The design will adopt the A330-200 wide-bodied corporate jet design plane in the front with a passenger aircraft layout in the rear to maximize space and minimize time and cost for refurbishment. (Translation by David)
